Waiting for Superman
by HaleyMichelle18
Summary: A story of some of the men in Penny's life. Part 1 of 2.


**Okay, so I have been away from writing for about 7 or 8 months. Life has been crazy what with moving, family, working and trying to keep my patients healthy, along with holding my dying one's hands and saying goodbye. I got into my first wreck as well. Very terrifying. I was diagnosed with a concussion and can remember nothing from that night. All I know, is when I saw my car the next day, I definitely cried happy tears. How I was able to walk away with some pulled muscles, bruises, and small amount of nerve damage, but NO broken bones or serious injuries is absolutely crazy to me. My car was crushed in on the driver's side. Luckily, I'm fine and so are the other's involved. It took several weeks, but I'm walking without any limping now. **

**Anyway, the point of that story was that I'm very happy to still be safe and sound and that I want to do more things I love again. I'm trying to wiggle my way back into writing, because I loved it so much and it's very relaxing. I need that with all the stress I'm dealing with after the wreck. (Bills, bills, and more bills!)**

**If you haven't heard the song, "Waiting for Superman" by Daughtry. I suggest you listen to it. This was loosely inspired by the song.**

**This story is two parts. It's Penny centric, but is of course, Lenny! **

**May have little tiny spoilers, I'm not entirely sure, because I haven't caught up with all of the first two episodes of season 8. So if so, sorry! Also sorry for any spelling or grammar errors, I wrote this in about 3 hours with very little sleep. I just had to get it out! Sorry for any medical errors, but my experience of working with geriatric patients is a little different than what was needed for this story, so I tried to do my best research. I do not own the idea of The Big Bang Theory or it's characters.**

**Long author's note over! Hope you enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Waiting for Superman<strong>

**Part 1**

The wooden bat fell from her hand and landed into the grass at her feet with a thud. The bat was soon followed by her 8 year old bottom. Penny leaned back until the back of her head hit the soft green grass underneath her. She adjusted the baseball cap atop her blonde hair and smiled as her father lay down next to her.

Her hands traced the grass stains and dirt that dirtied her blue jeans and she wiggled her tennis shoe covered feet. Most of the girls in her class were at Hannah Michael's birthday party, but, despite her friend's begging and her mother's pleading, Penny had stayed behind. She'd much rather be spending the day here, in the comfort of her back yard with her very best friend.

Besides, the birthday theme was Princess and, despite her growing curiosity for things like that, Penny knew her father wouldn't be pleased with that. She just wanted to make him proud.

"Hey Daddy?" Penny's voice broke the comfortable silence that had fallen between them, with nothing but the crickets chirping and a dog barking in the distance.

"Yeah, Slugger?"

Penny giggled at her father's nickname for her, then continued on, "I'm thinking of trying out for our school play that's coming up. It's Peter Pan. " The little girl hesitated, "What..what do you think?"

The few seconds that her question hung in the air felt like lifetimes to Penny as she bit down hard on her lip, nearly causing it to bleed. "I think you'd be great in a play. You can do anything you wanna do, Slugger. And," he paused, raising his hand above their heads and pointing, "I think that cloud looks like a giraffe; what about you?"

As they continued on cloud watching and laughing, Penny was able to relax more and more. The sun was already setting and she was halfway asleep, her eyelids slowly falling, when her father's voice shook her awake, "Hey, how about some night fishin'?"

A smile lit up her tiny face. Her dad was the best.

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><p>The door slammed shut behind her, causing a loud echo throughout the silent kitchen. Sighing, Penny collapsed onto the nearest barstool, careful not to wrinkle her dress, and leaned her head into the palm of her hand. She mentally counted the seconds until the door behind her would open again.<p>

_1..2..3..4.._

"Slugger," Penny tried to keep another sigh from pushing its way past her lips at her father's frustrated tone.

"He's coming," she repeated for what had to be the millionth time in the past hour. Her fingers began to fiddle with the purple fabric of her prom dress. She really wished her father would just give her a break. She knew he didn't like her latest boyfriend, Kurt, but he could at least give him another chance. Sure he was an hour late picking her up for her senior prom, but he probably got stuck in traffic behind a tractor or couldn't get his tuxedo's tie tied correctly. He probably had a good excuse. He always did.

"Sweetie.."

Penny's eyes shot up to where her father stood. When he stopped calling her 'Slugger', it was never a good sign. "He's coming," she spoke again through gritted teeth this time, exasperated with arguing with him.

Now was probably not a good time to bring up her and Kurt moving after graduation. No, that news could wait a few more weeks. She would just have to let Kurt make a better impression with her dad. They still had time. Her father would meet him under better circumstances than a late prom night, or drunk on her porch, or sneaking out of her bedroom window. Her father would grow to like him. He had to. This was it for her. She had fallen in love and fallen hard. There was no way she could ever feel _this_ again. So what if they were young and neither had a job? They both had big dreams that involved California. And yeah, she knew he was friends with a lot of other girls, and sometimes that bothered her, but that's just part of his personality. He's simply friendly.

Closing her eyes, she turned away from her father and whispered once more, "He's coming."

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><p>"Well she was sitting in <em>my <em>spot!"

Penny rolled her eyes as she plopped into the desk chair next to the white fluffy chair beside the coffee table. You would think after a year and a half of hanging out in 4A, she would be used to these outbursts. Her eyes travelled the room, scrutinizing everybody there. Sheldon, the person previously screaming of course, was now sitting in his 'spot' on the end of the couch, wiggling around, apparently attempting to get the 'fit right again'. This guy rubbed her in all the wrong ways on a daily basis. He was arrogant and obnoxious, but she felt a soft spot in her heart for him. She knew deep down that he had a heart. It was probably buried beneath lots and lots of ice, but it was in there.

Next to him was Howard, who had finally slowed down his attempts of hitting on her. He had now decided once a day was good enough instead of every time she walked through the door. She still found him disturbing on many, many levels, but he was growing on her.

On the far end of the couch, Raj sat, twiddling his thumbs and trying to avoid eye contact with her at all costs. She hoped one day she could help him get over this fear of talking in front of her. He was a sweet guy after all. Odd, but sweet.

And finally, the greatest guy of them all. She glanced to her right and watched as Leonard's eyes quickly looked the other direction, suddenly interested in the other guy's conversation. She always caught him staring at her. But not in the gross-creeper-stalker way like one of their other friend's seemed to do, but in a caring, 'would-do-anything-for-you' way. That look paired with his adorkable (a word she used just for him) smile was enough to stir up a few butterflies in her stomach that she desperately pushed away. They had tried that before; one date and a few pretty great kisses. Her own insecurities had gotten in the way and she couldn't let them go down that road again. She cared about him too much to hurt him.

Looking around the room again, she realized just how much she had come to care for each one of these men surrounding her. For nearly two years, they had welcomed her into their home, allowed her to eat their food, even offering to lend a helping hand whenever possible.

Penny had had plenty of friends growing up; she'd never been without one. Though, a huge part of her doubted she had ever and would ever have friends quite as amazing as the ones she was sitting with now.

These were her guys. Her crazy, nerdy guys. And she loved each of them.

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><p>Near Year's Eve 2010 was a weird one. Throughout Penny's life, most of her New Years had been spent wearing slutty outfits and getting sloppy drunk, usually making out in the corner of some room. But New Years 2010? Nope, not this year. Penny had spent this holiday at a <em>comic book store<em> competing in a costume party. No getting drunk, not slutt-…okay well she still had the slutty outfit going on. But she made a _fine_ Wonderwoman _**and**_ they had won first place.

Then of course there was kissing. Not drunken kissing in the corner or with some random guy. But awkward kissing. With Zack. In front of Leonard.

Climbing the stairs on step at a time, Penny tried to concentrate on not tripping and not paying any attention to her ex-boyfriend shuffling behind her or her current..whatever he was, with the 'S' on his chest, bounding up the stairs and his cape flowing behind him.

Maybe she'd make better decisions this year.

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><p>"<em>I finally realized that I don't need to be famous or have some big career to be happy."<em>

"_Then what do you need?"_

"_You, you stupid poptart!"_

Penny couldn't help but shake her head at the memory that flowed through her head then. Not exactly the perfect proposal that every little girl dreams of, but it was definitely _them._

"Oh, honey! Be careful! You'll mess up your hair!"

The blonde turned just in time to see another blonde head so similar to her own rush toward her side. She bit her tongue as her mother, Lisa, cautiously poked and prodded at her hair. The once actress turned pharmaceutical rep had let her pixie cut grow out in the past year just enough to style it into a sleek blonde bob.

A cough escaped past her lips as yet another layer of spray was added to her hair. "Mom, that's good. I've got enough in my hair to start a house fire."

Her mother huffed, obviously flustered, "Well, I'm sorry dear, but I just want this to day to be amazing for you!"

Penny gently laid a hand on her mother's wrist, halting her movements. "And it will," she assured her, "I know it will be the most amazing day of my life." _Funny how __**she**__ was the calm one. _

A figure caught Penny's line of vision behind her mother. A smile began to fill her face as she stood and came face to face with her father. He held out his hand to her. "It's time," his voice dropped lower, cracking somewhat and his expression a mixture of happiness and sadness, "You ready?"

"Yes," she whispered, "I'm finally ready."

They might not have had the picture perfect proposal, and she knew it was very likely that with the whole gang here (mostly Sheldon), there would be some ups and downs today, but, damn it, it was her wedding day. It was going to be wonderful.

Penny linked her arm with her father's as they walked out of the room behind her mother and down the hall leading to the double doors she would soon be stepping through. Her eyes met her father's and, when the music began to play, they made their way. She remembered growing up knowing that this man beside her would do anything for her and she looked up to him so much; but as her eyes left his and trailed up the corridor to land on her geeky fiancé's (future husband's) bespectacled ones, her heart rate quickened. There he was with his goofy smile, dressed handsomely in his black tux; and Penny had never felt more in love.

While her father would never be replaced in her heart completely, she knew, as she let go of his hand and took Leonard's tightly in hers, that she was letting go of her first hero and latching onto her new one. Leonard Leaky Hofstader truly was her Superman.

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><p>She could hear the slow and steady rhythm of the beeping coming from somewhere close by. The room's overhead lighting causing her to squint her eyes slightly as she was slowly lifted from the fogginess surrounding her head. <em>Where was she?<em> A quick glance to her right, where the beeping seemed to be coming from, helped with her answer. The beeping seemed to be the machine monitoring her heart rate, which currently read 89 beats per minute. Her forehead scrunched in thought as she tried to remember if that was healthy or not. Groaning, she faced forward again, only to be blinded by that stupid bright light above her. Her eyes squeezed shut, desperately trying to piece together the missing puzzles in her mind. Her head felt entirely too heavy.

"Hey."

Penny's eyes flew open at the soft, familiar voice from her left. Turning, her eyes connected with her husband's loving ones and everything hit her, almost instantly. It had been late, past midnight, and she had gotten up for what seemed like the 100th time to pee. Throughout the day, she had barely noticed the pain she had resting in her lower back (everything hurt now after all), but that last trip to the bathroom had been excruciating pain shooting through her back and lower stomach. Something hadn't seemed right. When she had finally made it to the bathroom, her eyes fell on the wet spot staining against her pink pajama bottom. After further inspection, Penny found the liquid to be thick and bloody. Something definitely wasn't right. She still had 6 weeks.

Back in the present, Penny's eyes bored into Leonard's. Her voice felt scratchy and rubbed against her throat as she spoke, "Where is he?"

"He's up in the Neonatal ICU," her husband hurried on, catching her worried expression," He's stable. He had a little difficulty breathing at first and is a little on the smaller side; 4 pounds 12 ounces. They're just monitoring him closely for now.

Penny listened closely as Leonard explained what her Doctor had informed them of upon their admission, something she was having some trouble remembering, given the severity of the situation. She had experienced what was called 'Placental Abruption'; a condition where the placenta separates from the uterus before your baby is born, which can deprive your baby of oxygen and nutrients vital to the infant. They had no choice but to perform an emergency C-section due to the bleeding Penny was experiencing. With no time for an epidural, Penny had been given standard anesthesia used during surgeries and had been knocked out cold. _That explains the fogginess._

The blonde's hands slowly traced the outline of her stomach. The roundness that had once made her feel like one of those old milk cows back home in Nebraska, but at the same time, kept her future son safe and sound from the dangers of the outside world as he grew more and more, was gone, leaving an emptiness that Penny didn't know how to feel about. Her hands stilled to the left of her abdomen, the last spot she had felt her baby kick the night before.

"Penny?" Her husband's voice brought her back once again, "He's okay. And he's so beautiful." She watched as a tear slipped down one of Leonard's cheeks. "Thank you so much."

She felt her lips begin to twitch into a small smile. She needed to see for herself. She _had_ to. "Can I see him?"

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><p>It still took several hours, what with the nurses bustling in and out of her room, checking vital signs and pressing on her abdomen, (Something about the firmness of her uterus and monitoring the blood flow?) but Penny was on her way to see her baby. At first, her nurse had seemed hesitant, probably from the fact that Penny was still in severe pain, nearly screaming when transferring from the bed to the wheelchair. But she just had a human cut out of her, isn't pain to be expected? She denied pain meds. She could have those when she got back to her room; right now was about meeting her child for the first time and she wanted a clear head for that. Besides, it didn't hurt <em>as bad<em> when she used this nice pillow to hold against her incision.

Upon arrival, Leonard and the nurses taught her how to properly wash her hands before entering the double doors leading to the NICU. She tried to keep her eyes from wandering into the rooms they passed as Leonard wheeled her down the corridor. She hated to see the babies lying there with tubes and wires that seemed to go on for miles and their sleep deprived parents crying next to them. Her heart nearly stopped at the thought of what was possibly awaiting her. Was her child like the rest of them?

Her wheelchair started slowing down and soon came to a stop outside of the section labeled 413. The nurse who had accompanied them from the entrance introduced them to another nurse, with a bright smile and what could not have been a real stethoscope hanging from around her neck. The round part was so small!

The nurse introduced herself as Mindy. She had been taking care of their baby since he was admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the early hours of the morning. The curtain was pulled back and Penny was wheeled in directly after the bubbly nurse.

She was hit with several things at once so she wasn't quite sure what to focus on. Her eyes roamed from the paintings of different cartoon ducks lining the wall, to the few machines surrounding a small incubator in the center of the room. Her breath hitched in her throat as she moved closer to the object and she felt her eyes begin to sting with tears when her fingers stretched out to trace the piece of paper taped to the side of the crib like box. The slip of paper was lined with small colorful pacifiers and rattles and read "It's a boy!" in huge blue letters. Underneath that was what snatched Penny's attention though. The simple black ink: _Nicholas Wyatt Hofstader. 4lbs 10 oz, 16 inches long. Born March 10__th__, 2017 at 3:01 A.M. to the parents of Leonard and Penny Hofstader._

She vaguely listened as both Leonard and Mindy explained the medical equipment in the room. The little golden bear sticker attached to the tiniest foot Penny had ever seen was monitoring the baby's oxygen level. "95% thanks to the liters of oxygen we have on him. He's not quite there on his own, but we have faith," Mindy stated. Penny's eyes followed up the small creature's body, taking in every detail, counting every toe and every finger. Her eyes moved past the small iv sticking into the tiny arm, past the tubing taped to the chubby cheeks and traveling into the cutest button nose she assumed was to help with breathing, until finally her eyes met another set of hazel eyes looking back at her. It was almost like she was looking into a mirror.

Penny had a son. And she was in love.


End file.
